ABUJA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Sunday launched a one-week teacher training program to pave way for a universal basic education (UBE) program scheduled to be carried out this month nationwide.

Okey Ikechukwu, head of the Communications Office of the Ministry of Education, told reporters in the capital Abuja that the program started in Kaduna, a leading commercial city in northern Nigeria, would cover teachers from the North-West zone of the country.

He added that the training program was also carried out in the South-East zone simultaneously and "will then extend to the other geo-political zones of the country."

He said the training scheme "is aimed to prepare the teachers for the UBE program which would kick-off this month nationwide."

He explained that during the scheme teachers would be exposed to new course materials, audio and written tests and curricula issues as well as such other issues as teacher-student relations and Information Communications Technology (ICT).

"The training scheme is crucial to the UBE program in the view of the new curricula for the program designed by the Nigerian Education and Research Development council (NERDC)," he said.

He added that the new curricula had introduced new elements into the basic education program and "it is important that the methodology of teaching these elements are explained to the teachers to ensure uniform and common standards."

Nigeria, the most populous African country with a population of over 140 million, is made up of six geopolitical zones. According to Ikechukwu, the training program will benefit a total of 145,000teachers across the country. Enditem